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United States Patent | 6,126,848 |
Li ,   et al. | October 3, 2000 |
Detection of the endpoint for removal of a target film overlying a stopping film by removing the target film with a process that selectively generates a chemical reaction product (for example ammonia when polishing a wafer with a nitride film in a slurry containing KOH) with one of the stopping film and the target film, converting the chemical reaction product to a separate product, producing excited molecules from the separate product, and monitoring the level of light emitted from the excited molecules as the target film is removed.
Inventors: | Li; Leping (Poughkeepsie, NY); Gilhooly; James Albert (Saint Albans, VT); Morgan, III; Clifford Owen (Burlington, VT); Surovic; William Joseph (Carmel, NY); Wei; Cong (Poughkeepsie, NY) |
Assignee: | International Business Machines Corporation (Armonk, NY) |
Appl. No.: | 073604 |
Filed: | May 6, 1998 |
Current U.S. Class: | 216/85; 216/59; 216/60; 216/84; 216/88; 216/89; 438/7; 438/693 |
Intern'l Class: | G01N 021/00 |
Field of Search: | 216/84,85,89,90,59,60 438/6,7,692,693 |
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Foreign Patent Documents | |||
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